8 March 2016: TARN lecture in Maastricht

On 8 March 2016, the first event in the TARN lecture series was organised in Maastricht. Oldřich Martinů, the Deputy Director of Europol, gave a lecture on ‘the Role of Europol in the Migration crisis’. Mr Martinů told the participants about the structure of Europol and how the Agency deals with migrant smuggling in the EU. ‘Over 90 per cent of migrants have received facilitating services to reach the EU’, Mr Martinů told, and emphasised that the services are mostly offered by criminal groups. He talked about the challenges Europol faces in investigating these crimes and in information sharing. He also provided examples of cases where the Agency was involved in providing assistance in migration issues. The presentation was followed by questions from the audience.